Ehlissa's Story
by Scottenkainen
Summary: Prologue to the "Castle Greyhawk" novella, told from the viewpoint of Ehlissa.
1. Chapter 1

EHLISSA'S STORY (A CASTLE GREYHAWK PROLOGUE)

By Scott Casper, 2007

Once upon a time, there was a young woman named Ehlissa, and she lived in the City of Greyhawk. Of course, so did about 30,000 other people, so that alone did not make her particularly special. Nor did she feel particularly special. True, her parents had managed to afford the tuition for her to attend the University of Magical Arts, but so had the families of many young ladies. The standard curriculum for ladies, which did not remotely seem special to Ehlissa, consisted of learning to read magic, plus a simple mending spell, and useful cantrips for magically washing clothes, concealing blemishes, and plucking eyebrows. The final spell before graduation would be an incantation for conjuring an unseen servant. After graduation would be a ball, where the ladies-in-magic would be allowed to dance with the new journeyman magic-users and seek out a prospective husband. At least, this was the tradition, but it was an old tradition and these were more enlightened times. Male and female students were now allowed to interact well before graduation and even take the same classes. This was a good thing too for Ehlissa, because she was often mistaken for a man and would have once received demerits for being mistaken for a man on the wrong side of the college, or for being a disruptive influence in the classroom. Ehlissa steadfastly refused to engage in the practice – so popular at the time – of plucking off the majority of her eyebrows, probably because she happened to have large, bushy eyebrows. And she felt much more comfortable in men's cote and hose than she ever did in a corset and dress.

This particular day, she had just finished with classes for the morning, had doffed her classroom hood and gown, and was wearing a particularly manly pair of boots she had borrowed from her father. Her boots had worn thin, and money for replacement boots was scarce for merchant class families paying guild membership dues and tuitions. Of course, had she looked more demure and lady-like that day, then nothing special would probably have ever happened in her life. Destiny favors nonconformity.

"What ho!" a young man called out to her as she was leaving the main entrance for the front lawn of the walled complex. The young man was thin, with lightly-tanned skin, black hair revealed as his classroom hood fell back, and just the hint of a moustache. He immediately struck her as boyishly handsome. That he had donned his hood and gown before entering the facilities was somewhat of a breach of protocol, though at least he was still in the compound. "Are you in Freyson's class?" he asked nervously.

"What?" Ehlissa asked back, surprised by this stranger's informality.

"Freyson? Divination? What about Vantolainen for conjuration?"

"I don't—" she began.

"No, I don't recognize you," he continued, "but I thought you might have enrolled late since I last attended class. I was – oh no," he said as he spotted two young men approaching them. One was a paler fellow with a blonde-moustache and wearing a long green cote that parted at his codpiece and ended over his thighs. This man stared at Ehlissa's new companion with an angry glare.

"There you are, Tenser!" said the man with the angry glare in a tone to match.

"Ah, Gleep," Tenser said, "how was class yesterday?"

"You wouldn't know because you weren't there!" Gleep shouted as he advanced across the lawn's paved path to the main entrance. "You were my research partner!" he continued to shout, advancing so menacingly that Tenser and Ehlissa both began to back away from him. "Because you weren't there, I couldn't complete our experiment. And because I couldn't complete it, I earned demerits. And if I earn enough demerits because of you to cost me a spell in my spellbook, I'm going to cast a magic missile right up your—"

Gleep had wanted to finish his threat, having already decided that it would feel pretty good to say it. It was certainly not of Tenser's doing that Gleep stopped, as Tenser's defense seemed to amount to no more than silent defiance. Actually, Tenser did have a pretty good retort in mind, along the lines of "Is that where you use your magic missile on your roommate?" but had not yet decided if he would risk using it or not. No, what made Gleep stop in his tracks was that Ehlissa had stepped in between them. She was not even offering more than her own silence defiance, with her mostly-flat chest puffed out and her mouth clenched tight, yet their combined defiance seemed to ward Gleep off. It was not Ehlissa's gender at all that made him demure, but the fact that he did not recognize her. While he had no compunctions against hurting Tenser, he had no wish to antagonize someone who might be an upper classman.

In another moment, it would have been over anyway. Gleep had made the mistake of confronting Tenser too close to the entrance and the door guard inside had overheard. Farin was a dwarf, long in the employ of the university, who had never allowed an unauthorized wizard duel on the college lawn on his watch. "Is there trouble here, young wizards?" Farin asked, friendly-sounding, but with his hand on the axe hanging at his side.

"There is no trouble," Tenser said, "Is there Gleep?"

"No, no trouble here," Gleep concurred. "We'll talk of this again, Tenser." He kept that angry glare focused on Tenser until he and his other classmate were inside and out of sight.

"Well!" Tenser exclaimed, exhaling a breath he had been holding. "I imagine I should not show up in that classroom again for awhile." Then, while Ehlissa stood there dumbfounded and wondering what was going on, he took off his gown right in front of her, revealing an outfit with a blue-embroidered surcote. "Come on," he said to her, "I owe you for standing up with me just now. Maybe you'll join me for a drink at the Roc and Oliphant?" And, without waiting for an answer, he started to walk away.

"Excuse me," Ehlissa said, starting after him. "But how can you afford to be missing classes?"

"I have my own private tutor," Tenser said as they left the compound and entered the semi-crowded street outside it. Street vendors tried to sell wizard-themed merchandise, like ceramic mugs glazed with "magical" glitterdust. Most of the other people idle in the street were mercenaries employed by the guild who chased off vendors that drew too large a crowd and blocked traffic to the guild entrance. Tenser set off in the direction of the Roc and Oliphant tavern, leaving the still-curious Ehlissa to simply follow.

"Was that man's name really Gleep?" she asked.

"Gleed, actually, but everyone calls him Gleep because it annoys him," Tenser went on. "I'm surprised you don't have him in any classes, as he's taking quite a few. You're not taking combat casting this semester?"

"Um…no," Ehlissa answered, wondering how much that would have set her parents back.

"I took that last year. I'm actually in my last semester now, but I feel like I already know everything they can teach me that I'll need. I'm just hanging on until graduation for the guild discount on spell components."

"Oh," was the last comment Ehlissa made until they reached the tavern. This Tenser was either very full of himself or trying awfully hard to impress her. Either way, she had never met anyone quite like him before.

The Roc and the Oliphant had a good-sized midday crowd, mostly older patrons playing or watching games of draughts and nine man morris. Tenser found a small table, straddled the bench, and produced a leather flask to slap on the table until he received service. Ehlissa entered more cautiously, having never been to a tavern unescorted and this Tenser was not doing a traditional job of escorting her. Eventually, she sat down on a bench across from him.

"I thought I'd lost you there," Tenser said with a nice smile. "Good to see you joined me. I was just wondering what classes you might be taking. I'm guessing you're studying to be an abjurer."

"Not exactly," Ehlissa said, looking down at the tabletop.

"But I'm close, aren't I?" Tenser asked as a serving lad filled his flask with ale. After a sip, he mused out loud, "Hmm…I would guess conjuration, but you would have to be a freshman to not have a class with Vantolainen…"

"I still don't understand why you miss classes," Ehlissa said, changing the subject. "I mean, after spending so much money to attend these classes in the first place, and to not feel obligated to attend them – you must attach little value to money."

"I haven't spent a copper piece on my tuition," Tenser said with a mischievous smile, as if he had just shared a secret.

"What? No. But that – are you taking a loan for the full tuition? Do you realize you can be paying that off for the rest of your life? They might even raise you as undead and put you back to work paying it off."

"I will have it paid in full after my first adventure."

"Your what?"

"Adventure!" Tenser said with great excitement, but in a hushed voice, as if he had changed his mind about sharing his secret any farther. "Who knows what destiny will throw my way? Maybe I'll loot the ruined city of some lost civilization, rob a sleeping dragon of its treasure trove, or steal an elven princess from her father's court. Or maybe all three. Regardless, I'll walk away from it a wealthy man."

"That sounds like a lot of looting, robbing, and stealing to me," Ehlissa said without enthusiasm.

"Yes, yes, but I'll be no common thief," Tenser countered with pride. "None of that is bad if it's done for a good cause."

"And what is your good cause?"

"Well, I don't have one yet, do I?" Tenser responded defensively. "If I did, I'd already be out there, adventuring. Haven't you ever thought about using your magic spells to live a life of adventure?"

"No…" Ehlissa confessed. Adventure was something she knew of only from stories. She had been told some as a girl, even though her parents were mostly practical people with no time for nonsense. "Nonsense" is what they would surely call wasting one's education, risking one's life for ill-gotten riches, and sitting in taverns with strange men. Then her mother would, she imagined, become weepy and complain that Ehlissa was trying on purpose to make it difficult for them to marry her off to a good suitor. "Besides," Ehlissa said at last, "what use does a lady have for adventure?"

"A what?" Tenser asked with a start.

Ehlissa noticed him scrutinizing her face for the first time since they had met. "What?" was all she could think to ask Tenser back.

"Nothing. Er…nothing," Tenser said, turning away to hide the blush in his cheeks.

Now Ehlissa's cheeks were turning red too, but from embarrassment and anger. "You did know I was a lady, didn't you?" she asked, boldly stating the issue between them.

"Of course…of course I did," Tenser answered unconvincingly. "And why not? I'm sure there are plenty of women training for a life of adventure," he said, though he could not actually think of any he knew.

Ehlissa could also not think of any examples, but was not about to bring that up now. "Of course," she said. "Dozens at the least."

"Then I will make you the same offer I have intended since you stood up beside me against Gleed. When I am ready for my life as an adventurer, I will need adventuring companions. We will form a small company, pool what treasure we acquire, and share it evenly between all even partners. How would you like to be partners?"

There was a good reason why she could not and that was her complete lack of education in any form of magic that would be useful for such a career, but now she was backed into a corner and could not admit to such a thing.

"You will have to be more specific as to when you will be ready to start this company," Ehlissa stated as self-importantly as possible. "I have a lot of options to consider and I can't guarantee I will be free to pursue this venture of yours by the time you are ready to start it."

"Fair enough," Tenser said. "No promises now, then, but we will stay in touch?"

"Yes, I suppose we should," she said.

"You told him you would what?" Johydee asked.

Ehlissa was back at home, sitting in the small room she shared with her sister Johydee. Joyhdee was the younger sister, named for the famous Aerdy heroine, as was briefly popular around the time of her sister's conception. Like her namesake, Johydee tended to be the more adventurous, if not reckless, sister, while Ehlissa had always been the dutiful daughter who did everything proper – or so Johydee was fond of reminding her.

"We didn't make plans," Ehlissa said, lying on her bed, her speech muffled by the pillow over her face. "I just told him we would speak of it again when we met at the guildhall."


	2. Chapter 2

"You know Mother will be furious," Joyhdee said as she examined herself in a mirror. "She wanted your coming out to be two years ago, but you put it off to pursue these magical studies. Every year she's bought at least one or two new dresses for you, in the hopes that this will be the year you will start seeing men. And now you've gone and met one on your own."

"But I haven't started seeing men for a courting relationship!" Ehlissa protested. "It's a business relationship!"

"Do you really think Mother will see the difference?"

"No," Ehlissa groaned from under her pillow. Then she threw her pillow aside and bolted upright. She laid her hand on her sister's arm and said, "Promise you won't tell Mother."

"What? No," Johydee said. "All right, I will, but you have to promise to keep me informed. No secrets from me."

Having a confidante in this matter, even if it was her own sister, comforted Ehlissa enough that she was able to appear normal at supper and almost forget the matter entirely as she readied herself for bed. But as she laid there that night, she could not stop thinking about Tenser and how she was, because of him, in a curious situation. She could have just told him the truth, she reminded herself. She was only in magic school to stall her parents from constantly trying to marry her off. She had no training and hardly any inclination for combat, subterfuge, or even personal risk. She expected to use her education to apprentice herself to a craftsman who used magic, or maybe work for the guild itself and that would be the end of her career in magic. She certainly had no ambitions towards being a sorceress or a wizard someday. But if she told Tenser all this, then she would see that disappointed look again that she saw in his face today when he realized she was a woman and, for some reason, she wanted to avoid that again for as long as possible.

By the next day, after a night of very little sleep, Ehlissa had thoroughly explored her options. Time, she had decided, was on her side. Yesterday was the first day she had ever run into Tenser, so it would likely be quite some time before they happened to run into each other again. In the meanwhile, she needed to at least make it appear she was studying a spell that would be useful for adventuring, or something Tenser might think was useful. Her best bet there was the unseen servant spell that she would learn at the end of the semester, but she would not start those lessons for weeks. That was the point at which she was stuck in her plan-making, and that point consumed her thoughts for the rest of the morning.

This was Godsday, so the guildhall was only open for the morning before closing for weekly religious observances. Ehlissa had no class to attend on Godsday morning, but she did have a study group that she met there on this morning each week. She was glad to leave the house for a brisk walk to the guildhall. That itself had been a small victory for her, after convincing her parents that escorts were frowned upon at the wizard guildhall. And that had been only partially true. She had seen magicians coming and

going from the guild before with a wide variety of escorts, often gnomes in colorful costumes, all manner of animal familiars, and even litter-bearing orcs once. True wizards came and went from the guildhall more mysteriously, so that she had yet to witness it happening. Of course, what she feared was that her escort in particular would be frowned upon, since it would likely be a common household servant or, worse, Ehlissa's mother herself.

Eura, Johannah, and Leana were sitting at their regular table in the study hall, waiting for Ehlissa to join them. Ehlissa's footfalls echoed loudly across the polished wood floor of the hall, but not as

loudly as the whispered chatter of the three young magic-students.

"…what she was wearing?"

"You could not catch me wearing a headdress like that."

"Yeah, but the circlet she was wearing with it? Where do you think she bought that?"

"Did I miss anything?" Ehlissa said as she took her seat. She wondered at first, but was now confident they were not talking about her, as she almost never wore anything fancier than a cap or hood.

"It's Hertha," Leana said. "You didn't see her yesterday and what she was wearing?"

"Parading around

like she's a princess," Eura remarked.

"Because she's after Mordenkainen," Johannah added.

"Who?" Ehlissa asked.

"Mordenkainen?" Leana asked back. "You know. You must have seen him. He's still an apprentice like us, taking lessons at the guildhall, even though he's older than us, but he must have connections because they say he already has membership in the University of Magical Arts ."

"But an apprentice can't attend university," Ehlissa

protested.

"He can," Johannah answered simply. "And Hertha—"

"That slut," Eura interjected.

"Thank you," Johannah said. "That slut Hertha has been all over him."

Discussion of Hertha's comings and goings was nothing new to the study group. Hertha was an outsider, a loner, and, scandalously, a "bad girl." Eura knew someone who had overheard Hertha, when she first enrolled, asking if classes were available in witchcraft. Johannah knew someone who knew someone who had seen Hertha trying to seduce one of her instructors so he would teach her extra spells. Ehlissa gave little attention to her studies or her friends for the rest of the morning. She was instead thinking about what help Hertha could be in learning a useful spell for adventuring.

Ehlissa was lost in thought, imagining Tenser and her fending off pirates from a river barge with powerful magic spells, when she heard the bells ringing noon. With a start, she began packing her scrolls back into their case and slid it into her sack along with her lap slate and chalk sticks. She made hurried apologies to her friends and raced through the hall, dodging killmoulis servants, small fairies whose giant, saggy noses swayed as they swept the floor with short brooms and mops.

Each Godsday morning, the Procession of the Clerics began in the High Quarter, at the north end of the Processional, followed the road south to the far end of the Old City, and then returned to the temples of the High Quarter by evening in time for the priests to have their separate ceremonies and dispense minor miracles. Those who could afford access to the High Quarter were welcome to attend at the temples, but for those who could not afford the tolls at Black Gate or Waghalter Gate, the Procession was the only chance some had to see the clerics. Most people only worked half days so they could follow the Procession going one way or the other. For Ehlissa's family, their tradition was to meet the Priests of Zilchus as they emerged from the Old City at noon for the Children's Compensation, or the Giving Back the Loot of the Thieves, ceremony. Each week, the priests would toss copper commons into the crowd of children, coins seized from the Priests of Kurell in the infamous Thieves' Quarter (though Ehlissa had known for years that this was symbolic and the Zilchites brought their own coins). Among the copper commons would be one silver noble that one lucky child in the audience would find and be allowed to keep. Ehlissa had never been the lucky child and had long since been too old to try, but she still loved to attend with her family and watch. Now, as she winded her way south through filthy side streets in her father's boots, she told herself she would be lucky to catch the end of the ceremony.

"You there!" a familiar voice called out. Ehlissa looked around for the source and recognized Gleed standing with two other young men outside an apothecary. Gleed stood out in a tall yellow hat and a codpiece even larger than the one he had been wearing the other day. His friends were more moderately and drably dressed, though still fashionable. She was surprised to see Gleed again, more surprised to realize that he was calling to her, and more surprised still when he called to her again, this time by name. As Ehlissa drew closer out of curiosity, Gleed smiled a big smile and spoke in a pleasant voice that sounded nothing like he did the other day. "Surprised I know your name?" Gleed asked proudly. "I asked around about you."

"Oh?" Ehlissa asked cautiously. She kept a close eye on Gleed and his companions, but they all stood their ground and did not approach any closer to her.

Gleed looked disappointed, as if he was listening for a reaction he did not hear, but he pressed on. "I hope I didn't make a bad impression on you the other day," Gleed continued. "I traveled far, all the way from the Kingdom of Keoland, to study magic in the City of Greyhawk, so you can imagine my disappointment to be saddled with as dismal a research partner as Tenser."

"You speak the Common Tongue very well for a Keolander," Ehlissa observed.

"I will take that as a compliment," Gleed said with hardly a trace of accent and sounding even more proud, if that were possible.

"I appreciate you wanting to warn me about Tenser," Ehlissa said, "but honestly, I have only spoken to him once and have barely known him longer than I have known you."

"That's funny," Gleed said as he took a step closer to her, with his friends following, "because I understand you were dining with him at the Roc and Oliphant yesterday. I may be ignorant to some of your local customs, but is it proper to be so intimate with a near stranger in these parts?"

"Is it proper where you come from to spy on others?" Ehlissa asked back, offended.

"It is if—" Gleed said with a sudden return of the temperament he had demonstrated yesterday. He took another step towards Ehlissa, but one of his friends put his hand on Gleed's arm and stopped him. Gleed responded by forcing himself to look friendly again. "Look," he continued sweetly, "Tenser is involved in private magic research. Independent study is only authorized by the guild if a senior guild member supervises, but Tenser is acting alone. If he's caught, he will face expulsion, at the least, and anyone helping him could face the same."

"I'm not!" Ehlissa protested.

"All I want is to know where Tenser is," Gleed said.

Ehlissa looked from face to face, but saw only that they were all anxiously waiting for an answer. "I…I don't know where he is," she answered.

All three of them just stood there and watched her silently. Then they all turned and looked at each other. Some decision was reached between them because Gleed turned back to her and said, "We'll stay in touch with you."

When they walked off in one direction, Ehlissa turned and walked in the other direction, but a little wobbly as she was shaken by the experience. She had rounded a corner and walked past only one building when she gasped out loud, but with the presence of mind to muffler her mouth with her hands so she would not cry out loud enough to be heard by Gleed and the others.

Tenser was standing in front of a blue-painted door, his surcote and hat of a matching shade. He stepped out of the doorframe of the next shop down and looked about carefully. He almost tip-toed up to Ehlissa before asking quietly, "So, they're gone now?"

Ehlissa could hardly believe that a day ago she did not even know these people and now she was practically tripping over them, but all she could say about it was, "What are you doing here?"

"Making my rounds of the apothecaries that deal in spell components. There's a lot for sale out there the guild doesn't tell you about, you know. Maybe not this one, though," he said, pointing in the direction from which Ehlissa had come. "If they had anything good, Gleep would have stayed longer waiting for me. If you like, you can come with and I will show you some others."

Once again Tenser walked off, either expecting Ehlissa to follow or not caring if she did or not. She did not care to be treated in such a manner and had half a mind to ignore him entirely, but her curiosity overcame her pride once more and she caught up to him. "What Gleep--Gleed was saying," she said, catching herself as she used Tenser's nickname for his erstwhile partner, "was it true? About you doing unsanctioned research?"

"What he told you was mostly true," Tenser said with only a glance at Ehlissa. "Yes, I am trying to learn a spell on my own without guild supervision. Yes, the guild frowns on that. What Gleep did not mention was that joint independent study is allowed with students from the Magical Arts University," he said, producing a silver noble from a pocket and rolling it around in his hand while he walked.

"Like Mordenkainen?" Ehlissa asked, recalling the name from the conversation earlier with her girlfriends.

Tenser stopped and spun around to face her. "You know Mordenkainen?" he asked, surprised.

"Well…not well," she half-lied. "Do you?"

"I know of him, but I have not had the pleasure yet of making his acquaintance," Tenser responded, going back to flipping his coin. "But you're certainly full of surprises, aren't you? I wouldn't be surprised if you were working on some unsanctioned research on your own with him."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she asked. In case he was using innuendo with her, she put a hint in her tone that the wrong answer might offend her.


	3. Chapter 3

"Nothing," he answered with a small laugh, as if the threat in her voice amused him. "It was meant to be a compliment as to your resourcefulness."

"What kind of spell are you learning?" she asked, changing the subject back to something else that had made her curious.

"It's a sleeping spell," he said excitedly. He animated as he discussed things that deeply interested him and he did sleight of hand tricks with the coin while he explained further. "Not a cantrip for helping you go to sleep at night either. No, this is a powerful enchantment spell for combat that can put over a dozen people to sleep. I'm sure you can imagine why the guild is reluctant to hand out such a spell. Instead, they expect you to be satisfied with a spell that makes one lousy arrow appear. And even that is useless against an opponent with a shielding spell. That's not for me. If I'm going to be a successful adventurer, I'm going to need spells that give me an edge."

"Congratulations, then, on planning so thoroughly," Ehlissa said sarcastically. As intriguing as this spell sounded, she was still annoyed by Tenser's attitude towards her and had had enough. "I would listen to more, but I really must make it to the Black

Gate."

"Procession of the Clerics?" Tenser asked.

Ehlissa was surprised he knew and asked how.

"I passed the show on my way here. I guess you're running late. There was a big crowd and some clerics were tossing coins into the audience. I caught this one," he said, holding out the silver noble in front of her.

"You caught that?" she asked. How could he have? She had attended that ceremony, well, religiously for most of her life and never caught one. And he just walks by and catches one without trying? Though she thought all that, what she said was, "you're not supposed to keep them, you know. If an adult catches the silver piece, you're supposed to give it to the child nearest you."

Tenser studied the coin before saying, "I didn't realize. I'm afraid I don't see children very often. Here," he said, and tossed it to her. "You can have it and give it to anyone you like."

How? How? Ehlissa kept asking in her jumbled thoughts as she closed her fingers around the silver noble. How was Tenser's life so charmed that he could accomplish her oldest childhood wish in moments, while passing, and not even trying? When she looked up at him again, walking on and oblivious to the turmoil in which he constantly left her thoughts, she resolved to discover what was so special about him no matter how long she must wait.

Patience was a virtue shared by the clerics, already weary from their long march and rituals along the way; the shopkeepers who closed their shops for the rest of their Godsday observance, aware they had chose piety over revenue until the morrow; the birds and animals that waited for the crowds to pass, eager to scavenge for the crumbs of snacks left in the crowds' wake; and the wealthy and powerful at Waghalter Gate, or already at the temples, waiting for their piety to be observed by the rest of the rich and powerful. With patience, and the passage of time, came resolution for many. The clerics had collected ample donations. The shopkeepers had a short rest before they had to return to work the next day. The cats and crows that moved fastest gained the choicest crumbs. A nobleman had paid a small fortune to be mentioned during services, winning much attention, but no salvation.

No resolution came so quickly to Ehlissa as she quietly followed Tenser about town on errands that left him excited and her puzzled. Tenser was an engaging friend, long of speech and short on breaks. Animated, lively – Ehlissa felt she was following her own personal minstrel show about town. But the closer she came to subjects of magic, such as what these components specifically did, the more he evaded the subject. They had been from one side of the Artisan's Quarter to the other when Tenser stopped them and said, "I really can't tell you more, you know. Mystical secrets and all that. But I'll ask my contact what I can share with you."

"Your contact? I thought he was your tutor."

"Well, it's complicated," was all Tenser would say to explain it.

Then he said bye and left Ehlissa all alone.

Day became night for all, but some went to their beds more content than others did. Ehlissa went to her bed with a strange mixture of both contention and wanting that only those who had known young love would recognize, though she did not yet recognize it as such and would soon deny it when Joyhdee suggested as much.

The next days were a welcome return to normalcy for Ehlissa, attending classes, running errands, and entertaining friends. She came and went quickly to and from the guildhall, encouraging her friends to study with her elsewhere, but she did linger slightly each time with her eyes and ears strained for some hint of Tenser. Only once she encountered Gleed again, but in a crowded hall where Gleed did not dare or have interest in confronting her. Outwardly, she betrayed little of her preoccupation and she was able to conceal it so well because another labored for her in secret. That night, after her last encounter with Tenser, she had told all to her sister Joyhdee. It became Joyhdee's secret mission to find Hertha and befriend her.

"I can't do it," Ehlissa had said. "If I approached Hertha and my friends knew about it, they would never speak to me again."

"Who cares what they think?" Joyhdee had asked with childlike innocence. "It's not like one of them knows any real spells."

Ehlissa pleaded to sway Joyhdee to her side, Joyhdee consented at last, and their alliance was sealed. Each day, Ehlissa waited for news from her sister of Hertha. At first, all Joyhdee could produce was fresh gossip, to which Ehlissa listened without complaint. But when two days had passed and Joyhdee had not yet even met Hertha personally, Ehlissa begged her to redouble her efforts.

"If you love me, you would meet with Hertha right away," Ehlissa argued.

"If you loved me, you would climb off my back!" Joyhdee protested, but it was in vain and soon she was promising to redouble her efforts.

A few more days passed without any word of progress and Ehlissa despaired, so much so that she had skipped class and was in bed when Joyhdee came in to see what was wrong with her. Ehlissa was in bed under the covers, tears on her cheeks.

"Oh, what has happened?" Joyhdee asked, sitting at her sister's side and wiping her cheek with the hand. "Mother sent me to check on you and find out why you have turned recluse. And now I find you like this? What is the matter?"

"How can you not know what the matter is?" Ehlissa asked. "When you know how much it meant to me for you to win my introduction to Hertha's social circle, and yet I still languish here with no new friend and no hope of gaining a special spell that will win Tenser's favor?"

"But I have, dear sister!" Joyhdee exclaimed, almost moved to tears herself by her sister's strong emotion. "I was coming to tell you just now of my long-awaited success."

Now Ehlissa forgot her tears and her sorrow. She bolted up in bed and took both of Joyhdee's hands in hers and said, "Tell! Tell! Do not leave out a word."

"The story is not so deep," Joyhdee said, as if to apologize. "As you well know, one route I have pursued to Hertha is through her brother, Welmer. For your happiness, I had circulated rumors that I would let Welmer court me if he wished and that seed has finally born fruit in the form of an invitation for mother and me to call on their family this Freeday!"

"And you shall put in such good words for me within earshot of Hertha that she will think well enough of me to make my acquaintance?" Ehlissa prompted.

"No, you shall do so yourself," Joyhdee said, so excited and proud of herself that her face looked like it was about to burst. "I shall write back immediately saying that mother is not well enough to attend, but that my older sister could come in her stead!"

"Joyhdee, you're brilliant!" Ehlissa cried. "What a clever schemer you are. Here, here," she said, throwing off her blankets and racing to her writing table. She lifted the cover. "Use my best vellum for the letter. It is meant for spell transcribing, but this is so much more important. Oh!" she added with such alarm that she threw her hand over her open mouth. "Oh, poor Joyhdee! What have I asked of you, that you would consider Welmer? Welmer is so—"

"Don't worry," Joydhee said. "I will not lead on poor Welmer long and then find some excuse to cancel our courtship before any arrangements are made."

"Bless you for being such a dear sister," Ehlissa said, placing her hand on Joydhee's shoulder and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I will ask you to return the favor and then some, someday, so make no saint of me," Joyhdee said with grim eyes, but a playful smile.

Joyhdee was not smiling and her discomfort looked transparent as she sat next to Welmer. Ehlissa's happiness at being introduced to Hertha was, in contrast, so great that she might have expected Hertha to just hand her a spell on the spot. Indeed, she was so eager to get down to business that she almost forgot to make small talk first and found herself having to excuse herself for an awkward pause in the conversation.

"I'm sorry," Ehlissa said, playing with the skirt of her best dress as she sat across from Hertha. "You were saying?"

The outfit itself was posing something of a challenge for Ehlissa, as unaccustomed as she was to wearing a dress. Joyhdee had helped with the corset with almost sadistic gusto and Ehlissa was having trouble breathing. The dress itself was a cumbersome thing that she was less wearing than being crushed beneath by its own weight. She was also accustomed to more head movement than the headdress she wore to match the dress allowed and it threatened to tip over and fall off every so often. She was also unbearably warm and thought she might faint if this visit went on too long.

"You look terribly flushed, if you don't mind my saying," Hertha repeated politely. "Welmer has been given a bottle of spiced wine to share with your sister for the occasion, but I am sure we could take a small sample of it first – to make sure it is adequate for the occasion, of course."

"Of course," Ehlissa answered.

Hertha returned shortly with the bottle of spiced wine and two cups. She was careful not to pour too much.

Ehlissa's share proved to be depressingly little. "That is quite good," she observed.

"Isn't it?" Hertha agreed. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have a little more."

Ehlissa was not drunk by her third cup, especially since Hertha was still loathe to pour more than half a cup at a time, but it was a potent wine neither watered nor vinegary and they were both turning a little giggly when they heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen they both panicked.

"Welmer will be furious!" Hertha said and then cursed in a whisper so loud it barely qualified as a whisper. "Come on!"

Ehlissa had the presence of mind to grab the wine bottle, or at least presumed that would have been Hertha's intent had she not panicked so much. With a cup in one hand, the hem of her dress in the other, and a bottle under her arm, she could barely keep up with Hertha as they raced out the kitchen to the dining room, waved to a frowning Joyhdee in passing, and circled around Welmer as he entered the kitchen. Their dash continued down the hall to the "children's" bedrooms, where they reconvened in Hertha's private quarters.

The contents of the bottle shrank as the girls remained secure in Hertha's room. Her parents had invested in a lock for her room ("To protect their investment in her spellbook," she would explain), so when Welmer found them out and made all kinds of threats through the door, the girls just giggled louder. Once Welmer and all the entertainment he brought were gone, the ladies took to discussing the guild. As luck would have it, both of them were familiar with Gleed and one of them made a joking reference to the size of his codpiece. Well, it all went downhill from there, with both of them wildly speculating on the sexual abilities of a host of their fellow guildmembers. To be fair, both women had been discussed in such a fashion by many of those same young guildsmen, but those same guildsmen would surely blanch to hear themselves discussed in so equally base a manner.

To Ehlissa's thinking (and, though a little tipsy, she was amply coherent), Hertha seemed to be speaking from experience no more than Ehlissa was. Very possibly, then, many of the rumors about her were actually false.

"Why do your friends hate me?" Hertha asked out of the blue, or as if she could read Ehlissa's mind.

Ehlissa tried to shrug it off. "I don't know," she lied. "I guess they just don't know you well enough?"

Hertha was not quite satisfied or done with the topic and tried prying for more particulars. "Did I do anything to one of them?" she asked, and "What do they say about me?"

Ehlissa hated this topic and wished there was some way to shut her up or, better yet, redirect her to the subject of spells. Perhaps the most direct approach… "Hey, do you have your spellbook here?" Ehlissa asked.


	4. Chapter 4

Hertha looked apprehensive about answering and Ehlissa could not blame her. Spellbooks were extremely valuable – maybe more so than human life sometimes. To protect their homes from inviting burglary or worse, most novices kept their spellbooks under lock and key at the guildhall anyway.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Hertha asked abruptly.

It was not an unpleasant proposition. Hertha and Welmer were the children of the Parstiche family that owned several butchers' shops and a tavern in the Artisans' Quarter. While it was unglamorous work, it apparently paid off handsomely for Hertha's home was nicer than Ehlissa's and was in the nicest neighborhood in that quarter. Advantageously located, their home was spared the scent of blood and offal that went with their profession and benefited instead from a small bakery down at the end of the street. The wind was blowing just right so that Ehlissa had a whiff of freshly-baked bread that temporarily overpowered the stench from the gutters. The two ladies had exited the house quickly without further encounter with Welmer, though he and Joyhdee had surely heard the door open and shut from the sitting room. No doubt she would hear from Joyhdee for this further abandonment, Ehlissa knew, but she also sensed that Hertha wanted to tell her something important and that it might have to do with spells.

Initially, Ehlissa began to doubt her intuition as Hertha began making small talk again, but as they walked down toward the bakery, Ehlissa had the feeling that Hertha was simply dancing around the subject she really wanted to discuss. When Hertha grabbed Ehlissa's arm, she thought this might be the moment Hertha finally opened up, but instead Hertha was focused on some people ahead of them.

At the bakery was a good-looking man in a leather jerkin, hose pinned tight to his legs, a sword sheathed at his side, and his head brazenly uncovered. His smooth chin reminded Ehlissa of Tenser's, but his face was narrower and his hair lighter. Next to him was a halfling, a round-looking fellow no larger than a child, wearing a dagger like a sword and chewing on a piece of bread. "What ho! Gorgeous ladies!" the man called out.

Hertha started to tug on Ehlissa's arm. "Come, let's go back," Hertha said, but turning around, Ehlissa and Hertha saw their way back blocked by a more darkly-tanned fellow with a bristly black beard, crooked nose, and fat lips. This man wore a short shirt of quilted armor and had a hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed dagger. The man said nothing, but shook his head menacingly.

"Don't leave already, ladies!" the first man called out sarcastically as he and his small companion caught up. "Hertha, I'll think you don't like me, turning your back like that."

"I'm not interested in you, Ham," Hertha said without looking at him. "Leave us alone."

"But I'm interested in you," Ham persisted, "and my friends Balgo and Hermon are interested in your friend, aren't you, boys?"

"Very interested," Balgo chirped in. Hermon, behind them, just grunted approvingly.

"This is a very public thoroughfare," Ehlissa protested. "You can't talk to us this way. We shall scream for the town watch."

Hermon responded by lifting his dagger halfway from its scabbard.

"It will go worse for you both if you do," Ham suggested with mocking sweetness. "Hertha, you don't want to see your friend get hurt, do you?"

Now, every girl growing up in the City of Greyhawk knew all about fates worse than death. One of the more fanciful "fates worse than death" was being taken in the night by the evil wizard Murq or his fearful mist golem. Even 15 years after it happened, parents still used that to scare their children. Ehlissa had long since stopped worrying about Murq and golems, but still held onto the very real fear of being dragged into a dark alley by evil men for nefarious purposes. It was typically said, though, that such misdeeds were only commonplace in the Old City, swarming as it was with beggars and thieves. The newer quarters were supposed to be much safer. Ehlissa had walked safely to and from the guildhall countless times, never needing to rely on the dagger she wore at her side for protection.

The dagger at her side. She could draw it and defend them, she realized.

But Hertha had her own answer prepared and gave it by starting to speak a magical incantation. She wove her hands in a swift, arcane pattern.

"Here, what's this?" Ham asked, only starting to realize what she was doing.

Hermon realized too late what would happen and tried to pin Hertha's arms, but Ehlissa had her dagger out of its sheath in a flash and held it between Hermon and Hertha to ward the brute away. Before Ehlissa could do anything else (though she was not even sure yet what that would be), Hertha had cast a spell that made a glowing arrow appear in the air before her. She made a violent motion of her hand that seemed to propel the arrow straight into Ham's bowels. Ham doubled over and fell to the ground, clutching his stomach like he had to hold it in.

"Hertha!" Ehlissa cried, stunned by what she had just seen.

Luckily, Hermon was equally stunned. The first one to recover seemed to be Balgo, who did not acquit himself well in the following moments. He screamed out "sorceress!" but everything else he said was a curse or profanity in his native tongue.

Although the street had been otherwise deserted just a moment before, the raised voices were quickly attracting witnesses. Shutters flew open that had been closed and people peeked through shutters that had already been open. Two respectably-dressed gentlemen exited a house, saw the scene practically outside their doorstep, and turned around to run back in. Others took a more civic-minded approach, calling out for the town guard. That was all Hermon had to hear before he too broke rank from his fallen comrade and beat a hasty retreat. Hertha, apparently, was of a similar bent of mind. "Come on!" she said as she took Ehlissa by the arm again and pulled hard on it.

Ehlissa, who had never witnessed someone almost murdered in front of her, was too shocked to do anything but dumbly comply. She felt like she should say something to Hertha about it, but her lips protested and did not wish to do anything so productive. Finally, Ehlissa found she was back in Hertha's home. She leaned against the foyer wall for support as she listened to Hertha go into the sitting room and fetch Welmer. She saw Joyhdee emerge, puzzled and concerned, from the sitting room and barely felt her sister touch her hand, as it felt numb. Joyhdee was saying something, but Ehlissa ignored it and strained to hear what Hertha was telling Welmer. When Welmer emerged from the sitting room, he seemed to give Ehlissa a hard glare, apologized gravely to Joyhdee for the interruption, and announced that he was "going out to deal with this before it reached their parents." Ehlissa started to cry.

Once Welmer was gone, Hertha joined Ehlissa and Joyhdee out in the foyer. Hertha looked sad, or maybe just depressed, but not nearly as distraught as Ehlissa felt. Ehlissa had finally recovered enough that she could speak. "You could have killed him, Hertha."

Hertha shrugged coldly. "He deserves it," she said calmly. "You don't know how long I've been dealing with him and his friends."

"But to do that—" Ehlissa began to protest.

"How can you not know what they intended to do to us?" Hertha said, her voice trembling for the first time. "It was because of them that I had to learn that spell in the first place!" Hertha then forced herself calm again and said quietly, "you two should both go. Out the back door in case the Town Watch is coming to question me."

The serious is her gaze made both sisters feel obligated to comply. Mechanically, they made their way towards the kitchen. But before leaving the hallway, Ehlissa turned back and asked the question she had wanted to ask this whole time. "Who taught you that spell?"

Hertha crossed her arms and looked down at them. She might have finally been holding back tears, but Ehlissa could not be sure. "Ask Felgosh. Bastro Felgosh," she said, and that was all she would say.

The flight from Hertha and Welmer's home was frightening for the two sisters. Ehlissa in particular could not stop looking back and watching for pursuers for the first four blocks. Ehlissa's explanation of what happened came in fits and starts whenever she felt there was no one near enough to eavesdrop. Joyhdee reacted with shock at all the appropriate passages of the story. The more Joyhdee heard, though, the more she shook her head. "You're not planning to talk to this man, are you?" she asked at last. By the look on Ehlissa's face, she knew the answer. "Holy Ralishaz! You are! And what are you planning to say? 'Hi, a friend of mine used your spell to almost kill a man. Will you teach me it too'?" she asked mockingly.

"No. I don't know!" Ehlissa said. "I have to find him first and then I will figure out something. In the meanwhile -- please, please keep secret what happened today!"

"You think I want everyone to think Welmer comes from a family of killers?" Joyhdee asked earnestly.

Home never looked so good as when the sisters finally reached it. The family only employed a servant to answer the door when expecting company, so the girls let themselves inside, discarded their muddy boots, and hung up their hoods. Safe at home, their horrible secret slowly changed into an exciting secret and they delighted in remaining silent about it at supper and throughout the evening. As Ehlissa went to bed that night, she even imagined whether she would ever have to kill someone in her future life of adventure.

Ehlissa woke the next day with no immediate plan other than to inquire at the guildhall if anyone knew of this Bastro. It seemed unlikely that she would find him right away, but any lead would be helpful. Perhaps, she hoped, Tenser would be there and help her track this man down. This made her impatient and she spoke so to Johydee as her sister helped braid her hair.

"I cannot believe you sometimes," Joyhdee said, pulling her sister's hair on purpose. "All I have done for you and you have the gall to complain that I'm not braiding fast enough."

"I'm sorry," Ehlissa said with earnest. "I know you've been a dear sister through all this. But I don't think you have faired so poorly if Welmer works out for you. He really did seem sweet on you."

"He was sweet enough..." Joydhee said, blushing.

"Oho! You do like him!" Ehlissa cried as she rose from her stool.

"Well, why not?" Joydhee shot back, her face now bright red. "He may not be so handsome, but he is soft in speech and manner. He said the sweetest things."

"Oh, what a bad sister I've been!" Ehlissa cried, clutching Joyhdee's hand. "I have been thinking only of myself and not of your news. Tell all! What things did Welmer say?"

"I...all right!" Joyhdee cried, and she began to betray Welmer's trust with the speed that only a woman's wagging tongue could accomplish.

To all these things Ehlissa bent her ear, but though she did so at first with glee, her mood gradually changed and darkened so that she was barely listening to Joyhdee at all. Deep in thought, Ehlissa stepped away from her sister.

"What is the matter?" Joyhdee asked. When no answer came, she guessed, "Is it because Tenser has not said such things to you?"

Ehlissa laughed, but it was an angry, jealous laugh that hid nothing of the truth in Joyhdee's guess. "You are still young, Joydhee," Ehlissa said. "Things have passed unsaid between Tenser and me far deeper than any whispered, honeyed words of dear Welmer!"

Of course, just because she said it did not mean she felt it and the worry that Joyhdee was right gnawed at her as she walked to the guildhall. It consumed her thoughts so much that she was about halfway there when she remembered the dangerous encounter of the previous day and wished she had asked for one of the servants to escort her. She made sure she was clutching the hilt of her dagger the rest of the way, wary of every stranger she passed. She released it only when she reached the normalcy of the magic guildhall. The gates at the street stood open, as they always were when members were coming or going. The wide path to the main entrance was free of members, but some had just left and were out talking to the street vendors. Ehlissa walked alone up to the main entrance, its large doors standing open. She could hear the din from the crowded, echoing halls inside, but the only person at the entrance was the very dwarf who had separated Tenser and Gleed when Ehlissa first met them.

"Good day to you, lady," the dwarf, Farin, said with a polite nod.

"And good day to you too," Ehlissa said with a curtsey. It was not customary to talk to the help, but Ehlissa had a hunch that a servant with good ears might have heard the name Bastro before, so she asked him.

"I have," Farin said so matter-of-factly it surprised her. Then he pointed to the opposite wall of the foyer.

Ehlissa followed his finger to the plaques of instructors names displayed there. She knew what she would see before she spotted his plaque.

"His office is in the Hall of Many-Colored Panes...I believe on the right side," Farin offered helpfully.

Ehlissa stepped into the cloak room, took a deep breath, hung up her cloak, and took off her boots. She produced her ceremonial hood and gown from a sack to wear inside, replacing them with her regular hood and concealing her mud-stained hose with the gown. The dwarf gave her another polite nod as she emerged.


	5. Chapter 5

Two groups of guildmembers had gathered in the front hall to talk, one of students and one of journeymen, each group distinguished by their hoods and robes. Ehlissa overheard talk of early exam schedules from the former group and a possible due increase for magical business owners from the latter. She walked past them all and found the entrance to the wing to which she had been directed. She had occasion to be here before, as her own teachers had offices here, but her teachers were of lowest seniority and at the entrance of the wing. She walked deeper down a hallway flanked with alternating statues and stained glass windows on one side and rather ordinary-looking doors on the other side. Ehlissa examined each door for its plaque, both nervous and impatient to see the name she sought. Six doors down Ehlissa saw the name. She held her breath and was startled when she heard a door open. She backed away, but it was not the door in front of her, but one farther down the hall. An old man with a white-streaked beard, conical hat, and flowing robe stepped out, glanced at Ehlissa, and then examined one of the books in his hands. Realizing the man had no intention of speaking to her, Ehlissa knocked on Bastro Felgosh's door.

Bastro Felgosh was a slight man with large, bulging eyes, thin lips, and a short, dark beard that jutted almost horizontally from his chin through the gap in his high collar. He wore a conical hat as most senior guildmembers did, but much bulkier robes than the previous man. Bastro seemed almost lost in all of that fine, black and red linen. He looked Ehlissa up and down with those bulging eyes and asked in a friendly voice if he could help her.

Bastro nodded to his colleague solemnly as the elder man walked behind and Ehlissa and down the hall. Bastro said to Ehlissa without really looking at her, "I am sorry, but I am much too busy right now. The magic mouth on the door will schedule you an appointment after I leave."

"But, please, it's not about class," Ehlissa pleaded, feeling she was too close now to give up the chase. "I'm looking for a private tutor. Someone who had helped Hertha."

Bastro finally looked at Ehlissa. In fact, he seemed to be examining her rather critically, but silently until his colleague left the hall. "In rare cases, for gifted but underadvantaged students, I have done private tutoring in the past. If you come back later tonight after the last of the evening classes, perhaps we can talk more about it." That was all he seemed intent on saying, as he quickly brushed past her and made his way down the hall.

Ehlissa had no other business in this end of the guildhall and had no choice but to follow Bastro out at a respectful distance. She watched him enter a door in the main hall that was only for senior member use and thought she caught him smiling back at her before he went through it. It was most encouraging, so much so that Ehlissa smiled back and smiled all the way to the library. She sat with a few of her friends and heard them whispering to each other, but she paid no heed to them. She smiled and looked at her study notes without reading anything and imagined the spells Bastro might teach her that would let her slay goblin barbarians while back-to-back with Tenser. Tenser would be so appreciative that he would profess his undyng love and--

"Ehlissa," her friend Eura was saying, "don't you hear the bells? It's time for class!"

Ehlissa had earned the rebuke that Eura administered as they walked to class. This was, as Eura reminded her, to be an exciting class for them both, as the training for the unseen servant spell had finally begun. Class was overseen by the usual rotation of mid-level guildsmen, all bored with having to teach a class on domestic magic, but today's instructor was assisted by two younger, journeymen magic-users, one of whom was a woman. Both of the journeymen seemed to show more enthusiasm than the main instructor, but the woman – a short, round-faced woman with ruddy cheeks – seemed to be glowing with pride. They performed the somatic components of the spell repeatedly, never finishing the spell so it would not vanish from their minds. Ehlissa and the other students watched and busily sketched the hand positions on their note scrolls with charcoal sticks, to be inked over later. As Ehlissa worked, she wondered about the pride on that woman's face. Had she discovered some secret, special use for the unseen servant spell? Or had she simply made a better trophy wife of herself by knowing it and was happy because she pleased her husband? Ehlissa had half a mind to corner the woman and ask her after class, but feared hearing the second answer. Besides, she already had an appointment with Bastro and was looking forward to learning spells like Hertha had learned from him.

"Don't go," Johydee said later, after Ehlissa told her the latest news in the privacy of her bedroom. They were both sitting on Ehlissa's bed.

"How many times have I heard you say 'don't' to me in the last few weeks?" Ehlissa asked.

"Why are you not saying it to yourself?" Johydee had shot back. "You don't need to be reckless. You don't need to go to your guild for a secret meeting."

Ehlissa gave a sigh of frustration that ended in more of an angry growl. "Why are you always against me?"

Johydee jumped up and grabbed her sister's hands. "I am not against you! I just hate what you're doing? Why are you so obsessed? You haven't even seen Tenser in days!"

"Because this isn't just about Tenser!" Ehlissa shot back, letting go of her sister's hands. "This is about me and what I need to…to be the person I want to be."

"All right," Johydee sighed. "I'll be supportive again. But you make sure you keep telling me everything."

Ehlissa promised she would, but inwardly she knew that she could not take any more of Johydee's lecturing.

Ehlissa returned later to the hall where Bastro's office was located. The hall was as quiet and unnerving as before. Perhaps there was some enchantment on the hall that made junior guildsmen wish to leave, perhaps it was some sense of foreboding on her part, or perhaps Johydee had warned her so much recently that it was starting to affect her.

Bastro opened the door and those huge eyes of his instantly settled on her face. "Come in," he said, still staring at her. It sounded more like a command than a request.

Ehlissa had felt fine around him earlier when he barely looked at her, but now that he would not take his eyes off her, it was unnerving. She kept her eyes to the floor as often as she could and just hoped his eyes were elsewhere.

"I won't ask why it's so important to you to have this spell," Bastro said. "But I do have to know how important it is to you."

Ehlissa sighed. So now she had to explain herself to him too, as well as to her own sister? "I…do not know how I would go on with my life without this spell," she said at last.

Bastro Felgosh made a little humming noise as he seemed to ponder that. Or perhaps he was still staring at her. Ehlissa did not look up to find out.

"What I taught Hertha was a simple magic missile spell," Bastro explained, as if lecturing before a class. He walked back and forth across his small, spartanly-furnished office past its writing desk and stool, table, and couch. He had his hands behind his back. "It is relatively easy to learn, at least for a guild member already learning magic. I believe it took her two months to learn it. Of course, what I asked from her in exchange was…substantial."

"My family has some money," Ehlissa offered.

"My dear, who said anything about money?"

Then, all at once, Ehlissa understood. She understood Hertha's terrible sacrifice that had left her empowered, yet alone and outcast. She understood what Bastro asked of her and why she had felt increasingly uncomfortable in his presence. She understood the terrible choice before her. And she looked to the door.

"The door is not locked," Bastro said, evidently still watching her every movement. "You are free to leave if you are unprepared to discuss the particular method of payment for private tutoring I wished to discuss with you."

Ehlissa knew she should leave immediately before he changed his mind about letting her, but she still felt she had come too far to turn back. At least, one more question. "May I…have some time to think about this?"

"Of course," Bastro said. "My door will open to you once more, tomorrow night. After that, it will be closed to you forever."

Whether or not Bastro had intended to sound so dramatic, the statement had a scary finality to it that stayed in Ehlissa's head long after she left the guildhall. The walk home was a long one and also intensely scary, for Ehlissa had never been out so late alone and the world was now a much darker, more dangerous place than it had ever seemed before. She spent the second half of the walk home with her dagger drawn and held tight in her unsteady hand. People passing her on the street tended to give her a wide berth and a few even chuckled at her, seeing her react so defensively to every imagined threat around her. Only one person stopped her, just a few blocks from her home. His tabard identified him as a night watchman and the markings on his shield identified him as a captain.

"You might want to put that away, young lady," the man said, hands on his belt instead of his weapons. "You could make a lot of trouble for yourself holding that thing like that."

Ehlissa tried to un-tense and lower her weapon, but found her arm had been tensed so long it was hard to make it relax. Then she realized that she wanted to cry. She could feel the tears welling up inside her.

"Is something wrong?" the patient captain asked.

Now, the last thing Ehlissa wanted to do was answer because then she knew she would burst into tears. Then this nice captain would probably escort her home and make her explain herself to her entire family and she would be embarrassed and….Or maybe, she began to think, this was not such a nice man at all, but was trying to make her lower her guard so he could take advantage of her? She forced back the tears and looked up at him with as stern a look of defiance as she could still muster.

The captain's look darkened in response and he acted by bringing his shield down hard right on Ehlissa's dagger-wielding hand. The pain made her cry out and drop her dagger, which landed on its side in the dirt at her feet.

"Now, be off with you before I change my mind and slap you in the stocks for brandishing a weapon against a night watchman," the captain warned sternly.

Ehlissa backed down quickly, her smarting hand banishing temporarily from her thoughts all her other troubles. She left the captain standing over her dagger and made her way unarmed back home. She aimed vindictive thoughts at that vicious captain until she reached home and then, in the safety of home, she allowed her other worries to flood back into her mind. She immediately wanted to tell Johydee everything. Having her sister as a confidant through this whole ordeal had helped her through everything, and yet now Ehlissa felt a sudden urge to say nothing. Surely there would be another lecture from her younger sister about how she should not pursue this any further. And she would be right, wouldn't she? The more Ehlissa thought of just giving up and backing out of this whole business, the more she felt there was no other way but forward. Her obsession, and she freely admitted to herself it was an obsession, had made a narrow tunnel in her mind where she could see no side route to her goal. She simply had to still learn an adventuring spell, for it led to Tenser and the life of adventure he promised her.

She told herself that she had not decided yet what she would do, but she also decided not to mention anything to her sister about it. She avoided Johydee's gaze at dinner. She went straight to her room after dinner without a word to her sister. It was inevitable that Johydee would come to her room to ask her what happened. Ehlissa dealt with that by pushing her chest of drawers across the room and in front of the door to block it. Johydee tried talking to her through the door as far as it would open, but Ehlissa just laid there pretending she was asleep already.

All of this turned out to be a very good thing, as it worried Johydee to no end. Had Ehlissa simply lied about what happened to pacify her sister, Johydee might not have taken steps that would soon save her Ehlissa's life.

The guildhall was busier when Ehlissa returned that night and when a large group of guildmembers left the building she almost turned and left with them. She changed into her student hood and gown in the cloak room and made her way back to the Hall of Many-Colored Panes. A class had just ended and the main hall started to flood with junior guildsmen. Ehlissa spotted Gleed amongst them and turned quickly so her hood would conceal her face, hoping he would not spot her. She heard his loud voice, but he was busy talking to his friends and did not seem to notice her. The side hall before her was as good a place as any to hide from Gleed, though it took her closer to the door she dreaded reaching.

This time the quietness of the hall was some comfort to her and she loitered there for some time, pretending to admire the statuary and the stained glass. When she noticed someone was standing beside her, she jumped with a small cry of alarm.

"I am sorry," said the old, wizardly man who kept the office next to Bastro's. "I did not mean to startle you. I noticed you were admiring this particular piece," he said, motioning with skinny fingers at the statue of a chain-clad warrior standing with his shield before him. "I advise you not to touch, though. These statues can come to life, if you know the right command word. They are the defense system for this hall."

Ehlissa stepped back from the statue and the old man chuckled as he walked away, his footsteps echoing in the silent hall. Once he was gone, Ehlissa's resolve returned at full strength and she made for Bastro's door.

Bastro Felgosh's eyes seemed to bulge more than normal when he opened his door and he smiled a big smile that showed crooked teeth. He was wearing a long, black cote and hose of fine linen, bereft of his senior guildsmen gown and hood. "Ah, so glad you made the right decision. Come in," he said.

Ehlissa entered. Bastro gestured to the couch, but Ehlissa remained standing. Bastro just stood there in front of her with his hands clasped in front of him.


	6. Chapter 6

"I will take you up on your offer," she said, "but will offer you nothing in exchange until after I have learned the spell you promised me

"I will take you up on your offer," she said, "but will offer you nothing in exchange until after I have learned the spell you promised me." It was a plan she had concocted in just the last few hours and was, she felt, her best hope of weaseling out of any promise later.

"Of course, of course," Bastro said, nodding. "That would only seem fair, would it not? But, one point of order first. Since this is unauthorized tutoring, it would not be appropriate for you to wear your guild gown. Would you take it off please?"

Ehlissa shivered at the suggestion, but decided it was safe to comply. She was fully dressed beneath her robe in her familiar cote and hose, similar in style to Bastro's clothes, but much less fine and only slightly more colorful.

Bastro seemed to look even more approvingly at her, though. "You have a unique fashion sense," he said. "You may not be the prettiest woman who has ever come through my door, but you are a woman nonetheless and will look much more like one once all those mannish clothes are off."

"But we had a deal," Ehlissa protested, stepping back warily.

"In a moment, you will retract the terms of that deal and avail yourself to me willingly," Bastro said, and he began casting a spell.

To Ehlissa's horror, she felt her very will slipping away from her as he intoned his spell, as if her will was something she had only been holding onto it and it was becoming more slippery and harder to hold onto every moment. "Please…stop…" she moaned, "I'll do anything." Indeed, anything she had feared until this moment seemed preferable to this ultimate violation. Then, as she felt her will being turned inside out, she began to feel like she really did want to do anything for Bastro Felgosh. And with that horrific realization, she found enough willpower left to her for one short burst of a scream.

Ehlissa had little sense of self after that moment. She seemed to be drifting in and out of sleep while dreaming a horrible nightmare. She had a sense that she was undressing in the nightmare. The only thing that felt real was a hammering sound, or someone beating on a door. And there was a voice, a familiar one, saying things like, "Let me in!" and "Are you all right, Ehlissa?" Ehlissa became aware that Bastro was becoming highly irritated and shouting "Go away!" at the door. Then there was a loud crash and the door flew to pieces.

The shock seemed to wake Ehlissa up a little, enough that she recognized the chain-wearing statue of a warrior that had just smashed its shield through the door. Bastro commanded the statue to go back, but then an even more familiar form came in through the hole where a door had been – Tenser. Catching Bastro quite literally with his pants down, Tenser was able to close the distance to him quickly and place his dagger to Bastro's throat.

"Let her go," Tenser said defiantly.

"Or what?" Bastro asked with a defiant sneer. "Stab me with your little knife? I am a warlock, boy, with enough power that your worst would do little more than prick me no matter where you stabbed."

"Would you like to test that?" Tenser asked.

Bastro responded by snatching Tenser's wrist with one hand to hold the dagger at bay while punching Tenser in the gut with his free hand. The two of them continued to punch and wrestle each other, sometimes struggling over possession of the dagger, with Tenser more often than not forced to fight defensively and take most of the hurting. Despite the beating he was slowly taking, Tenser wisely stayed in close to his opponent, keeping Bastro too occupied to cast a spell. When Bastro glanced to his writing desk and broke away from the tight melee, Tenser feared Bastro was reaching for a weapon concealed within and made a desperate lunge to trip Bastro. It worked. Off-balance, Bastro Felgosh tottered and came crashing into Ehlissa hard enough to knock her violently against the far wall of the small office.

The jarring impact made Ehlissa aware that she was standing in her undergarments, the back of her head hurt, Tenser was on the floor and Bastro, first back on his feet, was stomping on Tenser's hand that still clutched the dagger. As enraged as Bastro was, he seemed to have forgotten momentarily that he could finish Tenser off with a spell -- but only momentarily. Bastro began casting a spell that, while unfamiliar to Ehlissa, had an awful air of lethality to it. Not seeing her own dagger handy, Ehlissa picked up a thick book from the work desk and smacked Bastro over the back of the head with it as hard as she could. It distracted him for only a moment, but it seemed to buy Tenser time to wrap himself around Bastro's legs and try to trip him. Between the two of them, they managed to break Bastro's concentration enough that he lost his spell in mid-casting.

Bastro had clearly had enough of this fighting in close quarters. He kicked himself free of Tenser's hold and made his way for the exit.

Tenser yelled, "Don't let him leave!" as he struggled to rise to his feet.

If Bastro was free from their interference…Ehlissa envisioned Bastro gutting his office with magical fire if that meant ridding himself of both Tenser and her. She reached out to grab Bastro's clothes, but he slipped out of her grasp and made it to the hallway. He turned around to face them, now trapped in his office, but his attention was distracted by something else out in the hallway.

"Go!" Bastro yelled angrily to someone in the hall while shooing them off with a wave of his arm. "Return to the main hall at once!"

It was all the distraction Tenser needed to make a flying tackle at Bastro's midsection. Bastro was ready for him this time, grabbed hold of Tenser, and brought his knee up hard into Tenser's chest.

Out of immediate danger, modesty overcame Ehlissa and she gathered up her discarded clothes to hold them around her. She came cautiously to the door, frightened by the sight of Bastro clearly gaining the upper hand over Tenser again. Then she noticed familiar voices out in the hall – female voices raised in shrill protest, shouting, "Stop!" and "Don't hurt him!" They belonged to Ehlissa's friends Johannah and Leana.

Ehlissa came out into the hallway through the big hole in the door and saw, not just Johannah and Leana, but Eura and Johydee as well. They stood side-by-side, screaming with un-feminine excitement to see a senior and junior guildmember kicking the crap out of each other. Ehlissa looked again to the battle and saw that both sides were taking a necessary breather. Tenser was leaning forward with his hands on his knees and panting, but still only a step away from locking himself in battle with Bastro again. Bastro's face was red as a beet, either in anger at his plans for Ehlissa being dashed, embarrassed at having an audience, or some combination of the two. He was mostly recovered already, but held back from casting a spell.

"What's the…matter?" Tenser found the breath to ask Bastro. "Not going to be as easy…to silence five witnesses? Or explain what happened to us if we all…disappeared? Or are you just going to try to do to those four girls next what you were trying to do to Ehlissa in there?"

Ehlissa's friends seemed to notice Ehlissa standing there in front of the smashed door for the first time. Their expressions took on a look of pity and concern and they waved for Ehlissa to come to them. Ehlissa moved carefully around the two resting combatants, holding her clothes between her and them, and back up slowly toward her friends.

Bastro Felgosh's eyes were steady, but he had nervous hands and might still have tried to fire off one quick spell to end this problem before it became worse for him. But then a trio of dwarf guards came down the hall from the same direction everyone else had come. They walked up right behind the line of female guildmembers and startled them.

"Master Felgosh," one of the dwarves said slowly, "it was…suggested to us that we should check on the disturbance at your office."

"Oh, was it now?" Bastro shot back at them angrily. Then he controlled his temper and said more coolly to Tenser, "I don't know what you're talking about. This…slut," he said, waving dismissively at Ehlissa, "came to my office and threw herself at me. And then you, the jealous boyfriend, I suppose, animated that statue with a restricted command word you had no right to know, used it to break into my office, and attacked me! I'll have you both expelled! Now, the lot of you, go and leave me alone!"

Ehlissa felt hands grab her and she jumped, but it was just her friends gathering around her. Eura and Johannah blocked Ehlissa from view while they tried to dress her. Leana and Joyhdee kept a close watch on Bastro and Tenser. Ehlissa, for her part, was still so distraught that she could barely pay attention to what Bastro was saying, though "jealous boyfriend" somehow caught her ear.

"Is that what happened?" one of the dwarves was asking the junior guildsmen quietly.

Ehlissa realized this was her chance to speak up and accuse Bastro of what he had tried to do – what he had nearly done to her. Yet, her memory of the spell he cast on her was coming back to her more clearly now and she could see how effective it had been. Another, bolder plan took over her thoughts. "Actually," she said loudly, "Master Felgosh and I were just negotiating payment for a special spell he had agreed to teach my friends and me. A very public class. Hertha will be there too. She's another favorite pupil of Master Felgosh, I believe. We all will want to learn that spell you were showing me."

"And if I don't?" Bastro asked defiantly.

"Are you saying that was not what happened in your office?" the speaker of the three dwarves asked.

Bastro seemed to be mulling over his choices, but soon said, "No…no, that's how it happened. The statue must have malfunctioned and gone beserk for a moment. It happens to old enchantments sometimes. I had underestimated you, young lady," he said to Ehlissa. "You are an excellent…bargainer. I look forward to learning where this class of yours will be held. After that, I trust we will not cross paths again."

"Come, let's all leave here at once," Tenser said as he motioned for the five women to move back with his hands. If he said more after that, Ehlissa could not hear it over the chatter that sprang up from her friends all at once, all wanting every detail of what had happened.

Ehlissa held off the questioning and, breaking free of their ranks, stopped Tenser before he could part from them at the intersection of hallways. "Wait," she called out, and Tenser turned and stopped. "How did you know where I was?"

Tenser took a step back towards her. He rubbed his chest where it had been kicked. "That was easy enough. I was in that class that let out right down the hall there as you came in. I saw you turn your back and head down this other hall, reserved for senior guildsmen. Then one of the other senior guildsmen, Ringlerun, pulled me aside, said you might need some help, and gave me the command word for the statue outside Bastro's office. I think Ringlerun has the office next to his."

Ehlissa processed all that as much as she could. "So…I owe you my life," she said, her heart suddenly lighter than it had been in days.

"I can't let something happen to my future adventuring partner, can I?" Tenser answered.

The answer was intended with good humor, delivered with a wink and a grin, but it brought back with it a little bit of that weight on her heart that Ehlissa thought for just a moment had lifted.

"And don't forget that he could have dispatched us easily if more witnesses had not turned up in time," Tenser added.

"We saved Ehlissa's life!" Eura shouted gleefully. "Who wants to go celebrate?"

Everyone was cheerful save Ehlissa who walked with her head down and almost walked right into Gleed.

Ehlissa's whole party stopped short, arrested by the serious stare of their fellow guildsman as it moved between Tenser, Ehlissa, and the bevy of young women around him. Then his serious look turned into a smile. "Nice," he said to Tenser, gave him a respectful nod, and then he just walked away.

The next few days after that were extremely pleasant ones. Ehlissa's friends seemed to be near-constant companions to her, endlessly asking her to repeat the sad details of her unrequited affection for Tenser, the threats and bullying from Gleed, and mostly the sordid details of her encounters with Bastro Felgosh until she was sick of the re-telling. Her circle of friends had expanded now too. Johydee, while younger than the others, was embraced for her role in summoning the others to Ehlissa's aid (and hence indirectly responsible for all the juicy gossip about it they were now privy to). Even Hertha was now embraced by the group, once it was learned that her reputation was forced on her rather than by choice.

The day Ehlissa was dreading all the while was when the day came to begin studying with Bastro to learn his charm spell. Although the offer had been extended to all of Ehlissa's friends, Ehlissa found most of them were now dreading it even more than she was and finding excuses to bow out. Ehlissa had to coerce most of them into coming. Only two people she did not pressure into coming with her – Johydee, who Ehlissa felt more inclined to protect from a man like Bastro, and Hertha, who had already suffered so much from him. She was surprised to see Hertha come on her own without prompting, a look of defiance in her face every time she looked at Bastro.

Bastro Felgosh, for his part, had been transformed from lion to lamb and was nothing but courteous and helpful in his tutoring of the young ladies in his care. Days later, Ehlissa heard from Tenser that Bastro's guild membership was on probation after the incident in his office and he was under constant scrying surveillance for 28 days. That was when Tenser told her his news too.

"You?" she asked. "But why was your membership terminated and not Bastro's?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Unauthorized activation of a stone guardian," Tenser explained with a casual shrug

"Unauthorized activation of a stone guardian," Tenser explained with a casual shrug. "I'm fine with it. I think I learned just about everything I needed from the guild anyway. I still have my own mentor outside of class, like you do now. Care to meet him one of these days?"

The suggestion struck Ehlissa like thunder. In the time she had known Tenser so far, he had never suggested sharing any part of his personal life with her. Instead of answering, all she could do was nod in agreement. This pleased Tenser, who then said he would arrange it someday and left it at that. The expectation kept Ehlissa buoyed for several days until, one happy day, Tenser surprised her by meeting her outside her house when she was about to leave to run errands.

"Would you do me the honor," Tenser said, "of accompanying me to the residence of my tutor today? We are having a gathering of friends this afternoon."

Ehlissa had become much more comfortable by now with Tenser only calling her "friend," so she wore a heartfelt grin as she accepted. Even if she had not been willing to follow Tenser anywhere, she was by now so curious about Tenser's mystery tutor that she would have been willing to Gleed there. And yet, as Tenser turned to leave, she had to stop him. "What, now?" she asked. "Tenser, I am dressed for running errands, not for paying social visits."

"No one will care if you are not in your best clothes," Tenser said, his voice less impatient-sounding than it could have been.

"I will care," Ehlissa explained, keeping her good humor, "and you must accept that this is the risk one takes being friends with a woman. Propriety demands that I present myself as a proper lady."

"Adventurers don't worry about propriety," Tenser grumbled, but in a tone Ehlissa recognized meant that Tenser was done fighting. He waited patiently outside for Ehlissa to finish preparing. While he waited, Tenser picked up a pebble out of the mud by his feet and tossed it as far as he could over the roof of a house across from Ehlissa's, satisfied to hear it clatter down the far side of the roof. A moment later, a man exited that same residence and gave Tenser a suspicious stare.

"Propriety demands I wait out here," Tenser explained sheepishly.

Shortly, Ehlissa emerged. She had a new, white headdress on and tried to elicit a compliment from Tenser about it. He told her it looked fine and they moved on. Ehlissa let the matter drop because she was so curious about this mysterious tutor Tenser had dropped hints about for so long. Their path through the city seemed a long one and particularly circuitous for a route that wound up only taking them as far as the Foreign Quarter. Ehlissa had a suspicion that Tenser had taken her on the long route so she could not find her way here again on her own later, but it was just a suspicion and she did not give voice to it.

Ehlissa had expected a wizard's tower (there were quite a few in Greyhawk, including several in the Foreign Quarter). Instead, their destination was a large, but mundane-looking boardinghouse.

"Is this it?" Ehlissa asked, incredulous.

"Yes," Tenser replied.

"Is it something else? Like a castle concealed with illusions to look like a boardinghouse?"

Tenser stared at the boardinghouse. "No, I don't think so," he decided. "Come on."

They took a flight of stairs on the side of the building to a private entrance on the second floor. Tenser knocked on the door before entering a small hallway, urged Ehlissa to follow, and then knocked on a second door to the left.

"Why did you knock on the outside door?" Ehlissa asked.

"It deactivates a glyph of warding. This may be an ordinary boardinghouse, but that doesn't mean the people here have no security."

The second door was quickly answered by a man with long brown hair, a sharp nose, and a clean-shaven, round chin, wearing very fine clothes. "Tenser, come in!" the man said. "Who's your friend?"

Ehlissa looked around a comfortably-furnished sitting room with a ring of fabric-covered chairs circling a black bearskin rug on the floor. The walls were decorated with a tall mirror mounted on one wall and a wide decorative plaster frieze that took up over half of the opposite wall. Besides the man who had opened the door for them, there were two other men present. The second closest, a rosy-cheeked, balding man with a short beard and fine moustache, was leaning back in his chair and holding a glass cup. The man furthest from the door was sitting by a table with some bottles of beer or ale and more glass cups. This man was ruggedly handsome, with features as weathered as the old leather jerkin he wore over much finer clothes.

Muddy boots were sitting in pairs inside the door. Tenser and Ehlissa cast off theirs while Tenser made introductions. "Everyone, this is Ehlissa. Ehlissa, this is Keoghtom, Heward, and my tutor, Murlynd."

Ehlissa was invited inside and offered a chair and a drink. It had a smoky flavor and Ehlissa was unfamiliar with it. She was told it was whiskey.

"Best not have too much if you are unfamiliar with it," Murlynd suggested. He never offered her a refill and only one to Tenser, while he was constantly refilling Keoghtom's and Heward's glasses. Except for this possible slight, Murlynd was a cordial host and everyone else was exceptionally polite to Ehlissa except for Tenser, who largely ignored her. He sat there, following every word that came from the other three men like a puppy dog watching its owners.

"Why don't you tell us of an adventure?" Tenser suggested at last during a pause in the small talk.

Murlynd looked around to Keoghtom and Heward. "Is there any story we have that Tenser has not already heard?" he asked them.

"His friend Ehlissa undoubtedly hasn't," Keoghtom said.

"I have just the one," Heward said. "A good, rousing tale, but fit for mixed company."

"Very important," Keoghtom interjected, to which Murlynd nodded his approval.

"Humm…umm…" Heward began, "how did it begin now? Oh yes! It was your idea, Murlynd, to see how the Green Dragon Inn acquired such exotic potables."

"No, it was Keoghtom's!" Murlynd shot back, but was laughing as he did so.

"No, it was definitely you who suggested it," Keoghtom said. "I only suggested we create a diversion to keep people from the tap room."

"Fine, fine, but that comes later anyway," Heward said, slightly irritated. "We were sitting in the Green Dragon Inn and I had just had drank sasparilla for the first time and I ask these two, 'What is this stuff? Have you ever heard of it before?' And they say no, and I'd never heard of it before."

"No one had heard of it before!" Murlynd interjected. "It didn't exist!"

"And yet they had it there, right?" Heward asked.

"Sing them the drinking song you made up about sasparilla," Keoghtom joked.

"No! Now, stop interrupting," Heward said, somewhat crossly. "Now, I had happened to have a spell handy for detecting magic at the time…"

Ehlissa listened attentively as Heward continued to start and stop his tale, with the others alternating between helping and hindering the telling. The trouble was, Ehlissa could barely understand the story and missed laughing along with the others, including Tenser, at most of the parts they thought were funny. More importantly, not a bit of it sounded particularly adventurous to her, or at least not how she had always envisioned a life of adventure.

That night, back home, Ehlissa wanted to talk to Johydee about her disappointment, but when she came into Johydee's room, her sister was singing gaily to herself while she brushed her hair in front of the mirror.

"Isn't life wonderful?" Johydee asked in mid-song.

Ehlissa did not think so and glumly denied it was so.

Johydee whirled around on her stool and scolded Ehlissa with a shake of her hairbrush. "Now don't you talk like that!" she said with mock seriousness. "It was for you that I saw Welmer in the first place. I just had no idea how wonderful he could be. Even Eura likes him now."

Ehlissa winced to hear her younger sister talking about being friends with Ehlissa's friends, but Ehlissa had to admit to herself that she had been a poor and inattentive friend lately, as focused as she had been on Tenser, a new spell, and the life of adventure the two combined had seemed to promise her.

Johydee noticed the persistent melancholy in her sister's face and the mock seriousness vanished from her own countenance. Sitting down her hairbrush, she turned attentively to her sister and asked, "Whatever is the matter now? It seems to me that you should be happy. You have Tenser seeing you and taking you places. You have the spell you've been obsessing over for weeks."

"I don't have the spell yet," Ehlissa corrected her quickly. "Perhaps soon I'll master it. But…I don't know what it is. I'm…disappointed in Tenser's friends?"

"Disappointed how?" Johydee pressed.

"I don't know. I just thought they would be…well, all they ever do is sit around and talk."

"Could they be waiting until you have your new spell before they take you on an adventure?"

Ehlissa was not sure, but she vowed to steer the conversation in that direction next time.

Three days later, Ehlissa was still thinking about it, up until the point when Bastro leaned in front of her face and said, "Will you be practicing today, or are you now content simply to waste my time?"

Ehlissa looked around at Hertha and Johannah, who were looking back at her. While Ehlissa had been daydreaming, they had been reciting the verbal components of Bastro's charm person spell.

"Honestly, you can't expect me to be enjoying any of your company any more," Bastro kept ranting, "so the sooner you girls finish learning this spell and leave me alone, the better."

"Do you think I will know the spell soon?" Ehlissa asked. She anticipated the cold stare Bastro would give her after any question and made sure not to avert her eyes and appear strong.

"I could have taught a three-legged dog to cast this sooner," Bastro responded, "...but...for a woman you are coming along fairly well. Perhaps in another week or so." Then he just looked up at the ceiling, as he often did when he suspected a guild scryer might be watching.

That was the closest thing to a compliment Ehlissa thought she had ever heard from Bastro, but little did she dwell on that with the excitement of this much-anticipated spell looming larger in her mind.

It was two days later when Tenser came around again, though this time he had caught her en route for home after another training session with Bastro. She was glad to see him and blurted out the news of her progress right away.

"Well, another week or so!" Tenser exclaimed. "That's excellent news. The others will be thrilled to hear it."

"What, you mean your friends I met before?" Ehlissa asked.

"Yes, the guys, of course," Tenser laughed.

"Will you be heading to see them soon?"

"Would you like to go now?"

Ehlissa did. She was eager to make them talk about real adventure this time.

Tenser took her to the same building and the same room as before. Heward, Keoghtom, and Murlynd had changed clothes and seats, but otherwise it could have been the same day as she was there last here. Indeed, the men projected such an air of lethargy about them that Ehlissa wondered if they ever wandered far from this room.

"Hello, Tenser. Hello, Ehlissa," they all said.

"Ehlissa has excellent news," Tenser began, but then he turned to Ehlissa and watched her with a grin. Everyone else was watching her too.

Ehlissa proceeded to tell just the barest of details of how Bastro Felgosh had become indebted to her and was teaching her and her friends an enchantment spell.


	8. Chapter 8

"Is this a form of hypnosis or mind alteration

"Is this a form of hypnosis or mind alteration?" Heward asked.

"Enchanment spells don't alter the mind," Keoghtom said, as if upset by a running argument between them.

"You two are quibbling again," Murlynd added. "Whether the spell overrides or overlays one's thoughts is functionally irrelevant."

Ehlissa heard the conversation steer away from her spell into a discussion of magical theory to which Tenser and she seemed barely adequate to participate. She would have to do something to redirect the conversation. "What spells do you find best for adventuring?" Ehlissa blurted out.

Everyone stopped talking and stared at Ehlissa, who had not initiated a single conversation on either visit to this point. At first Ehlissa thought she had offended them, but then she realized that they were all thinking about it.

"I suppose…it depends on what kind of adventure it is?" Murlynd responded, glancing at his companions for feedback.

"I would have to agree," Keoghtom said, "though I will respectfully put forward that a hold portal spell can be quite expeditious when an adventure goes awry and one must beat a hasty retreat with no chance of pursuit!"

After some chuckles from the men present, Heward added, "But, surely, for the widest diversity of strategic value, one cannot beat invisibility. Remember the time," he said, beginning to laugh at his own remembrance, "when I snuck invisibly into Eridok's Expedition Provisions and substituted the iron rations with iron spikes?"

Ehlissa glanced from face to face and found she was increasingly unhappy at the unseriousness of these four men. She stood up, unable to sit still any longer. "No, I mean, what if you were all, uh, out in the wilderlands, outnumbered two to one and surrounded by orcish barbarians advancing on you with axes? What spell would you most want to have memorized to deal with that?"

The laughter faded. Keoghtom coughed and asked, "Just us out there? Where is the company of mercenaries we would have hired to fight the orcs for us?"

"Perhaps she means…" Heward said, smiling again, "that we have been dumped deep into the Wild Coast and orcish territory. How would we escape?"

"A flying spell would be nice," Murlynd suggested.

"No!" Ehlissa protested.

"Ehlissa…" Tenser said, his voice quiet and obviously intended to calm her down.

"What I meant was," Ehlissa continued unabated, "what if you were on a real adventure? Battling evil forces? To the victor goes the spoils? That kind of adventure?" After one more glance at a room full of suddenly awkward faces, she asked, "Have any of you ever even been on a real adventure?"

"Ehlissa," Tenser said again, this time standing up beside her, but also with a hint of admonishment in the way he said her name.

Ehlissa turned and looked at Tenser with sudden fury that shocked her. She nearly spat as she growled out, "I thought you were a real adventurer! I made myself into an adventurer to go with you! I have been putting myself in danger – first Ham and then Bastro – and for what? To sit around and…socialize with your friends?" when Tenser appeared too stunned to answer, she wanted to scream in his face, but instead held back to a "Nhh!" delivered through clenched teeth. Then she stormed out of the room.

Tenser avoided Murlynd's sitting room for days after that, embarrassed at Ehlissa's outburst and fearful that Murlynd and his friends would hold it against him. So, when Murlynd happened to walk into the Roc and the Oliphant while Tenser had stopped to enjoy a pint of ale, Tenser wondered if he could slip out unnoticed. Murlynd, however, was clearly looking for Tenser and he gave a nod when he spotted the table where Tenser was sitting.

"May I?" Murlynd asked, pointing to a stool next to Tenser.

"Of course," Tenser said.

Murlynd made a point of ordering his own pint of ale and making small talk about the nice weather outside. Not until Tenser stood up and started to leave did Murlynd come around to the point. "Why have you and that friend of yours, Ehlissa, been staying away?"

At first Tenser began to lie and say he had not intentionally been staying away, but when he looked at Murlynd he could see it was pointless to try to deceive him. With a sigh, Tenser said, "I am so sorry about her outburst. I don't know what possessed her. I--"

"Tenser," Murlynd interrupted, "what do you hope to gain from our association?"

"Well..." Tenser started, taken aback by the unexpected question, "Besides your assistance with the sleep spell you helped me learn, I have been picking up other tricks of the trade from listening to you and your friends."

Murlynd shook his head no. "We stopped telling you anything useful a long time ago, Tenser." In a lower, more earnest voice, he said, "My friends and I are no more than common conjurers, really. I helped you with that spell, but I would not have known how to teach it to you. We may have been on a few expeditions that turned dangerous, but none of us has ever lived the life of a true adventurer. Well, at least not yet."

"Why not?" was all Tenser could think to ask. Inside, he had known every word of this was true, but it had all gone unsaid for so long that it was a surprise to hear it said.

"It's just something about this city, I think," Murlynd said before he finished his ale. He then continued, saying, "Gem of the Flanaess, they call it. And unless you're living a squalid existence in the Old City, this place and its comforts...well, they domesticate you. We've seen it happen to you."

"Me? No, I'm still ready for a life of adventure," Tenser protested.

"Tenser, you just wiped some ale from your moustache with a handkerchief," Murlynd pointed out.

Tenser, suddenly embarassed, tucked his handkerchief back into his pocket.

"The truth is, we like you," Murlynd said, "and we have been trying to protect you from the path you were set on when you first met."

"What made you change your mind now?" Tenser asked, now earnestly puzzled.

"Because of Ehlissa. You have had an easy life since you came to Greyhawk City, but it has not been easy for Ehlissa ever since she decided to follow your path."

"How do you know that?" Tenser asked, suspiciously.

"I have friends in the guild," Murlynd said. "It was not hard to verify details. She is a determined young woman, Ehlissa is. If you don't help her find a life of adventure, she just might give up on waiting for you and pursue it on her own."

"But what can I do to help?"

Murlynd leaned closer. "I know someone who can help you," he said quietly. "A veteran fighter. He's been to Castle Greyhawk on one or two expeditions. I can send you two to talk to him. Maybe he will lead you out to the castle ruins and you can try exploring there."

"That's the break I've been waiting for!" Tenser said, energetically rising from the bench. "I'll tell Ehlissa the good news at once!"

Murlynd grasped Tenser's sleeve to stop him, looked up at him, and then seemed to think better of it and let Tenser go. "You find her first and then I'll tell you both where to go," Murlynd said, nodding, as if he was just now agreeing with what he was saying.

Tenser knew only a limited number of places to look for Ehlissa, but the first place he chose was her house. It was a nice day for a long walk to her house and the roads were unusually empty. There might have been something big going on elsewhere in town that had lured people away, but Tenser seldom kept himself informed of such things. He had not even thought about what day it was until he reached the house where Ehlissa's family lived and talked to the servant at the door.

"Ehlissa is not here," the servant said. "She's gone to join the Procession of the Clerics."

So that explained where everyone was, Tenser thought. But Ehlissa? Why was she so interested in religion now, unless…and then the next thought he had worried him so much that he almost ran all the way to the Processional in search of the procession. It was not hard to follow the noise of the crowd and Tenser found it drawing closer, on its way back from the Old City. Tenser stood off on a side street and watched the parade of people going past, scanning the crowd for Ehlissa's face. When he saw her, she looked happier than she usually looked. Had she made a decision that brought her contentment?

Ehlissa was surprised when Tenser pulled her out of the crowd. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same thing," Tenser said, pulling her farther from the noisy crowd.

"What do you mean?" Ehlissa asked, not liking his tone.

"Just because the path I chose –" Tenser paused to consider his words and started over. "Just because the path you're on is difficult doesn't mean you can afford to let yourself be waylaid by distractions. You never know when the opportunity you've been waiting for will arrive. And here you are, distracting yourself with religion. You're not – you're not thinking of becoming a cleric now, are you?"

Ehlissa stared at Tenser, wondering if he was joking. Then another thought occurred to her. "Tenser – you do care!"

"What?"

"You were worried I was going to leave magic and adventure behind? I've always enjoyed this ceremony. Everyone gathering together and following the same path, but that's not for me. I want to try something different. Something exciting."

"Then you're in luck," Tenser said excitedly. "Murlynd has a lead for us. He wants us to talk to a friend of his who knows something about Castle Greyhawk. Come on!"

And with that, Tenser was off. Ehlissa could only admire his boundless enthusiasm and energy, even if she still thought it misplaced. Still, he had shown that he cared about her and surely someday he would show that he saw her as more than just a fellow magic-user. And that would be enough to make her happy for now.


End file.
